Winter is among us! This means, hot chocolate by the fire, Ugg boots, carhartt jackets, and I'm sure i could go on. It comes time to prepare for frigid temperatures as well. You need to be prepared as well as your car, who spends all their precious time outside.

The Strain the cold puts on the fluid of your car is incredible, as the temperature drops the fluids (oil, brake fluid, trans fluid etc..) become thicker! The thicker the fluids the less effectiveness they have. Its important to let fluids warm up just a little bit before doing any major driving. Usually, driving cautiously out of your neighborhood is good enough to get most fluids to operate safely. As far as letting your car idle in the morning, theres a few arguments on that, so il explain my opinion.

There are of course benefits to warming up your car, its cold in winter and the heater core takes a few minutes to get hot coolant through it. This way you're able to keep warm and seek refuge in your own little space. The other benefit only really applies for an automatic transmission. The whole transmission is basically a big oil pump with some gears, clutches and solenoids. So it takes a few minutes for the automatic trans fluid to cycle through everything, making the auto trans last just that little bit longer.

Now time for the downsides.

When idling the car in your driveway or on the street, it takes a lot longer for the car to get into closed loop, or when the vehicle is at its optimal air fuel ratio. So yes driving it instead of letting it idle does help warm the car more.

So to conclude, keep yourself warm, let your vehicle heat up for 2 to 5 minutes, and go on driving, that'll be your best bet to keep the car healthy and happy for a long time!